Gamblers? You can bet on it

Australians love to gamble whether it’s on the horses, the dogs, the trots, at a casino, in front of a poker machine, or even buying a lottery ticket at the newsagent. ADRIAN FERNANDES takes a deeper look at Australia’s betting obsession.

Online gaming advertisers can click with regular bettors via print newspapers. Readers are 30 per cent more likely to gamble online than non-readers.

State lottery companies will find their target market in newspapers. Readers are 26 per cent more likely to have bought a lotto ticket than non-readers.

Casinos are odds on to reach regular customers with print ads. Some 86 per cent of those who visit a casino read newspapers regularly.

It’s official – Australia is the most bet-crazy country in the world. A report H2 Gambling Capital, a British consultancy, shows they gamble more than anyone else on a per-person basis.

More than $300 million will be bet on next week’s Melbourne Cup as once-a-year punters join the regular gamblers at the TAB.1

This article will look in detail at Australia’s gambling obsession, from sports betting to online gambling, casino gaming and playing the lotto. We’ll also see how newspaper media is the perfect medium for gaming brands to reach punters.

Good Sports

Australians will spend $26 billion on race and sports betting this year. 2

Punters bet an average $1200-a-head on sport each year. In addition to the Melbourne Cup they wager on more than 90,000 other horse races, the NRL premiership, AFL, football, basketball and other major sporting events around the world.

Some 1 million adults place at least one sports bet each month, according to emma data. Horse racing is the most popular with $22 billion splurged on a punt. A form guide is an essential tool for any serious bettor so it makes sense that newspaper media is popular with racing enthusiasts.

Some 85 per cent of sports gamblers have read a newspaper in print or online in the past month. Heavy newspaper readers are 83 per cent more likely to have placed a bet in the past month than non-newspaper readers.

Online Punters

The continued growth in mobile technology is driving a boom in online betting.

emma data tells us that more than 600,000 punters are placing bets via mobiles, tablets and laptops each month.

The TAB now take 45 per cent of its wagers outside of its retail outlets. 4

Competition for online punters is fierce as international brands such as William Hill, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes aggressively battle local betting firms for market share.

UK betting giant, Ladbrokes, is heavily promoting its online business to erode the TAB’s digital dominance. It is combining TV and Print to great effect with this “Bet Better” campaign.

For more information on how to combine Print & TV effectively to drive engagement, click here.

Advertising in newspapers makes perfect sense for Ladbrokes. Newspapers reach an audience who are active online bettors – readers are 30 per cent more likely to place a bet online that non-newspaper readers.

Lucky Numbers

Winning the lotto is a national obsession. Some 5.7 million Aussies aged 18+ bought a lotto ticket or scratch card in the past month, according to emma data. That’s more than one in three adults. Emma also shows that the average adult buys a lottery ticket twice a month.

Lotto and scratchie purchase differs considerably by state.

West Australians are 36 per cent more likely to buy a lottery ticket than the rest of the country. Residents of ACT are 29 per cent less likely to play lotto than the rest of the country.

NSW

VIC

QLD

WA

SA

ACT

NT

TAS

Percentage who bought a lotto ticket or scratchie in the past month

28%

30%

37%

44%

32%

23%

30%

31%

Lotto organisers in each state are avid metro newspaper advertisers and also tend to dominate the point of sale at the newsagents. Here’s a recent colourful execution for SA Lotteries that appeared in The Adelaide Advertiser.

Lottery West published this creative in The Western Australian.

There’s a reason why state lottery providers are regular advertisers in newspapers – readers are 26 per cent more likely to play lotto than non-readers.

Casinos and Poker Machines

Casino gaming, especially pokies, are hugely popular, too. In fact, Australia has the highest concentration of poker machines in the world.

emma shows that 2 million Australians play the pokies in their local pubs or clubs at least once a month.

According to emma, 700,000 punters visited a casino floor in the past three months. Four in five (86%) of these visitors are regular newspaper readers, and newspaper readers are 23 per cent more likely to visit a casino than non-readers.

Conclusion

No matter the game of chance, newspaper media is a proven and power choice for gaming brands to reach an audience who love a punt.